UPDATE: West Seattle recycle/reuse/shred dropoff events draws hundreds

| Environment | West Seattle news

10:01 SM: Big early turnout at the north lot of South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor) for this year’s recycle/reuse/shredding event, scheduled to continue until noon. Waiting cars have been lined up past the college’s south entrance, but once you get into the lot, it’s fast-moving with multiple stations depending on what you brought. Check our calendar listing to see what they are and aren’t accepting.

11:57 AM: As noted in comments, and in email we just received, the event is over – capacity maxed out.

Partners included the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, West Seattle Junction Association, Seattle Public Utilities, Waste Management, and individual companies/organizations that actually collect and handle the materials.

The next free dropoff recycling event in West Seattle is the twice-annual Recycle Roundup at Fauntleroy Church, 9 am-3 pm Saturday, April 27. Here’s the list of what they’ll be accepting. If you’re wondering about other ways to recycle/dispose of items – try the “Where Does It Go?” lookup.

Westside March 9, 2024 (11:28 am)

Looks like they are turning people away at this point. Sorry to those still in line that I am walking past.

Westside March 9, 2024 (11:28 am)

They are now turning people away at the entrance

Mariem March 9, 2024 (11:33 am)

Appreciate the city offering this. There is a tremendous need evidenced by the now nearly one mile long line of waiting cars. Please offer 2 of these on the spring. People want to do the right thing. Make it easier for them. I’d be glad to volunteer if they put out a call. I, however, can’t make use of the event for my recyclables and shredding as the line is ridiculous.

Gill & Alex March 9, 2024 (11:44 am)

A great event. Waited in line a little over an hour but the workers there were great and had the load out in a minute or so. I agree that 2 events are a great idea rather than having things put into garbage cans that shouldn’t be there.

DH March 9, 2024 (11:50 am)

I went to this at 9:00am and came back at 10:30am. The line is ridiculous. I want to do the right thing when it comes to recycling but I’m not going to spend hours to make this workable. Into the dumpster this stuff goes. I’ll say it causes me pain to not be living my values but this isn’t workable.

AMD March 9, 2024 (7:39 pm)

SPU will pick it up at the curb. You just need to take a minute to ask them and sometimes pay a fee (depending on what the item is). You have options to recycle besides this one event, and I would hope your values would lead you to explore those options now and again.
Danimal March 13, 2024 (11:50 pm)

I missed this after sitting In line since 11:15 and being turned away. However! I drove to Re-PC with all my electronics, batteries, etc, and they barely gave me a glance when I walked in – told me to just put it all wherever I could find space to the left of the entrance divider wall. Didn’t check it, nothing. Just let me drop it all off and that was it. Super easy; I suspect easier than the event! That said – I did have to go pay $29 for shredding at a UPS Store after dropping off my electronic stuff, but I had a lot of shredding – and I also had a lot of e-waste. Very worth the trip, even if I didn’t get immediate neighborhood satisfaction!

Huge demand March 9, 2024 (11:57 am)

We got in line before the midpoint of the scheduled 9:00-12:00 and got turned away after waiting in line an hour. Is the demand for this long running event still not understood? It feels like they could, again after years of leaving lots of people in line, either make sure they have enough capacity or not say they’ll be open for three hours when in fact they only accepted goods from the people in line significantly before 10:30. I appreciate that this event happens at all, but it should be stated that you basically have to be in line immediately at the start and there are no guarantees of accepting your garbage at all.

CM March 9, 2024 (12:02 pm)

You can’t say it goes until noon and then cut things off 5 minutes early when nobody else is around. I had one box of items. That’s pretty crappy.

Gina March 9, 2024 (12:04 pm)

Tossed a wagon in the back of the car, parked a 1/2 mile away and wheeled my stuff in. Saw people doing that last year, worked well! Also saved idling my engine for 45 minutes.

John March 9, 2024 (12:05 pm)

They really need to put a no left turn sign from south bound 16th into the parking lot entrance. It is not fair to the people who are waiting in line north bound.

Meke March 9, 2024 (12:08 pm)

I wish we had known/realized how popular this was. Waited in line just to get turned away. Could the blog suggest getting there early for the next event for those new to West Seattle?

WSB March 9, 2024 (12:17 pm)

We did, in most of our previews (like the last line of this one from last night)
https://westseattleblog.com/2024/03/saturday-one-more-reminder-west-seattle-recycling-shredding-event-is-hours-away
Note the added info above, including the what-they’ll-accept list we just received for Fauntleroy Church’s twice-annual event (which runs six hours) next month.

Gregg March 9, 2024 (12:08 pm)

It’s a noble idea, but the organizers were not prepared for the turnout. The line at 9am was nearly 3/4 of a mile long. I came back at 11, waited in line for 45 minutes, only to be told that they were full. What a waste of time for hundreds of people! There has to be a better way.

Tried March 9, 2024 (12:34 pm)

Same. I do appreciate this but they must have known earlier how many carloads they could estimate still accepting and at least warn people in line. And someone should have been sent to the end of the line to let people know.

Derwreck March 9, 2024 (12:41 pm)

So glad I waited 1-1/2 hours for nothing. Recycling is helpful re: global warming, having hundreds of cars idling and spewing carbon monoxide for hours is NOT! 😬

AK March 9, 2024 (12:45 pm)

Agree that it’s pretty frustrating to spend the time loading your vehicle with these items, wait in line for 45 minutes, and then be turned away before the end of the event. It’s disrespectful to people’s time. The workers are always kind and wonderful. This is not a reflection on them, but rather the event organizers.

alkikat March 9, 2024 (12:51 pm)

I don’t know why they can’t have people park in the huge parking lot at the college and walk their stuff to drop off. I parked nearby, walked my stuff in and was in and out in 15 minutes.

alki_2008 March 9, 2024 (4:02 pm)

We did the same. Saw how long the line was and decided against burning gasoline for all that time. The amount of exhaust from waiting cars was not environmentally friendly.
SWHudson March 9, 2024 (5:09 pm)

I’m going to email the organizers and suggest that. I’ve been at other events that do just that. I dropped my stuff off but in the end felt bad about doing so. I think it was worse for the environment to sit in that line for an hour and a half than it would have been to not recycle the small amount of things I had.

Gatewood March 9, 2024 (12:52 pm)

I think it could help alleviate the big turnout and lessen people being turned away if the partners who put on this much appreciated event would consider adding another standalone date of just document shredding. I’m grateful that I arrived early and a staffer mentioned, as was evident, that the shredding was a big draw. And many thanks to the exceedingly friendly and efficient folks who worked / volunteered at this!

Recycler March 9, 2024 (2:33 pm)

Seattle Public Utilities was tweeting this event for the past few days. I wouldn’t be surprised if it attracted people from other parts of the city.
- WSB March 9, 2024 (3:04 pm)
  
  They track zip codes so after all is tallied, we’ll know. They also have similar events periodically in other areas.

Ookla the Mok March 9, 2024 (1:07 pm)

Hardly a waste of time for me. In exchange for a little waiting, I got rid of an old tv, two ten year old laptops, two old printers, a handful of broken old kitchen appliances…all for free. If waiting on a Saturday morning is too much, pay the fee to have SPU take it with your trash pick up or go to a transfer station on any day of the week. But don’t blame the organizers of this FREE service because you can’t plan ahead or stand to be mildly inconvenienced.

Recycler March 9, 2024 (2:13 pm)

I agree. The Recycle Roundup at Fauntleroy does not take CRT monitors or TVs, so I came here. It was also my observation that the big draw was the shredding. Perhaps the organizers would consider a shredding only event.

Jim March 9, 2024 (1:32 pm)

I went up at 11:20 arbor heights at 11:20 got there and the line was huge. Turned around came home. I will just go down to RE-PC on 6th AVE

Andrew March 9, 2024 (1:58 pm)

Dude. The orange iMac. I would have taken that working or not.

alki_2008 March 9, 2024 (4:05 pm)

Yeah. A lot of things that people were dropping off at the event could’ve been driven somewhere else nearby (SODO) and disposed of for free. Re-PC takes many things and Craigslist or Buy Nothing can be a great resource for getting things to people that will re-use and/or refurbish things that people think is junk. Sometimes people need old things just for parts.
Jethro Marx March 9, 2024 (4:59 pm)

Killer fish/lizard tank material.

THANKS March 9, 2024 (3:18 pm)

The turnout really is truly amazing. I’ve been going to this for a few years and there is always a line so this year I remembered to bring a wagon. I parked a block down the street and was in and out in 15 minutes. I’m grateful for this free service (as others pointed out). Seattle Utilities has the same event in other neighborhoods throughout the year which you can find here Beyond the Cart – Utilities | seattle.gov. I’ve been to the one at the Rainier Community Center a couple times and there are never more than a few cars in line and it’s really not that far away.

Well that was a bust March 9, 2024 (8:23 pm)

Hope there’s a follow-up redemption event. I sat in line for 30 mins and was turned away just by a few cars. I really could have used this service today…Thanks SSCC for hosting!!!